In the face of extreme punishment for enslaved people and breaking the law for whites, roughly 5 percent of the enslaved population learned to read and write. Letters like the ones written below show the lengths they would go to learn.

In her article, Randolph delineates the profound impact of perpetuating stereotypical representations of Africa and its people by arranging them into three levels and then providing recommendations for how to combat them when creating learning experiences for students in the United States.

Leonard Matlovich, a U.S. Air Force sergeant, was awarded the Purple Heart for service in Vietnam, but discharged soon after telling his captain he was gay and appearing in uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the words, "I Am a Homosexual" emblazoned next to him. While he may have "settled" in his fight against the Air Force, he was a pioneer in the fight for gay and lesbian rights in the military.

On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was pulled over by police near Saint Paul, Minn., after being misidentified as a robbery suspect. He was then shot and killed by an officer during the traffic stop. In this StoryCorps edition, Chad Eisen-Ramgren has a conversation with his 10-year-old daughter, who was a student at the school where Mr. Phil managed the cafeteria.